Chapter 8
CHAPTER
EIGHT
“Who was that man?” I asked with growing worry as Saph set a thick wooden beam into brackets on either side of the tunnel door. “Do you know him?”
“I know his kind.” Saph surveyed the door like there was more he’d like to do to keep it closed. “Don’t go outside alone,” he said as he turned to face me. “And make sure all the doors and windows are locked at night.”
I gulped. “Saph, what’s going on? You’re freaking me out.”
He nodded and came over to grip my shoulders. “I apologize. I haven’t seen a ghoul in nearly a century, so it worries me that they’re back.”
A shiver went down my spine. “A ghoul? Is that like a ghost? The spirits you hunt? But no,” I continued, thinking out loud. “You don’t worry about them. They’re easy prey. Oh, god, Saph. What’s a ghoul?”
“Easy.” Saph guided me over to the chair and made me sit. He crouched down in front of me once I did. “I don’t like that I can’t kill them, but they’re not necessarily dangerous.”
“ You can’t kill them?” Not that I advocated for murder or anything, but Saph seemed to have been built to slaughter the undead.
“Ghouls are a demonic creature. I’m sure something can kill them, but I can’t. They just put themselves back together and return to eating human corpses.”
I made an involuntary retching noise before covering my mouth, now remembering that he’d mentioned ghouls before, back when we’d talked about his age. “Are they eating the bodies in the cemetery?” I said from behind my hand.
“They already did that the last time they were here. That they’re back with no bodies to eat concerns me.”
“Do they kill people?”
Saph cocked his head. “They didn’t last time, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they helped an accident happen or stood by if one did.”
“Waiting for someone to die. Like a vulture.”
“Exactly like.”
I wrapped my arms around myself and held on tightly. Saph was an amazing addition to my reality, but ghouls? I could’ve gone my whole life and another one without knowing they existed.
“So what do we do about them?”
Saph sighed as he stood and moved to sit in the other chair.
“You should avoid them. They can take on the appearance of the last corpse they consumed, but in a decayed state, like the one we saw. A few were seen last time, and that caused a panic. The dead rising from their graves. People spoke about the end of the world.”
“Oh, great.” I wanted to think people were more rational compared to those from a century ago, but sometimes I wasn’t so sure. “Is there any way to keep them away from our cemetery? I can pay for fences or…something.”
Saph shook his head. “I would’ve thought a lack of food would mean they wouldn’t bother with our cemetery. Maybe that one was checking for new graves. They usually stay underground, tunneling from grave to grave.”
And I’d been worried about chipmunks in the garden.
“I’ll patrol the area,” Saph said. “Don’t worry.”
I offered him a smile, but I was worried. What if I was getting the mail at the end of the walkway and a ghoul suddenly appeared? “Um, what should I do if I come across a ghoul?”
“Run.”
“Fuck.”
Saph huffed a laugh. “They don’t move quickly, so just run away from them. Chances are good that they won’t bother chasing you. Why expend the energy?”
Nodding, I resisted speaking out loud the scenario that popped into my head where I ran away, tripped, got a compound fracture, bled to death, and became a ghoul’s brunch on my own front lawn.
Upstairs, the grandfather clock in the front hall rang twelve times.
Midnight. I needed to get some sleep since I had to be up by six if I was going to get my new paintings packaged by noon.
Vera would be by then to cart everything off to the gallery in Manhattan in preparation for my show in a couple months.
But I also didn’t want to be alone tonight.
“Can I sleep down here with you?”
Saph reached for me, a soft smile lifting his dark lips. “Of course.”
I groaned as my phone pinged with a notification. That could only mean my phone was no longer in sleep mode, which also meant I should be up and starting my day. Why hadn’t my alarm gone off? Oh shit, why hadn’t my alarm gone off?
Lunging for my phone, I saw that it was a notification from my doorbell app’s neighborhood feature that let everyone post about lost and found pets or share videos of suspicious people caught on camera.
And since I wanted to know if someone was being suspicious around my house, I had notifications set to interrupt my sleep if necessary.
It wasn’t even five-thirty yet, but I had three neighbors sharing videos of shambling people wandering across their properties.
One of the commenters was exclaiming that the man in one video looked just like her father-in-law…who they’d buried last week.
I shivered in disgust. The ghouls were getting caught on camera already.
“What’s wrong?” Saph asked, his voice rough with sleep.
I showed him the screen. “I guess everyone and their cameras can see ghouls. I was kind of hoping it was just me.”
Saph sighed heavily before rubbing at his eyes. “No, everyone can see them. This isn’t good.”
“Some people are thinking it’s a prank,” I said as I scanned through the comments. “Others are blaming bored and malicious teenagers. But one person is saying it’s the beginning of the zombie apocalypse.”
With a groan, Saph turned over and covered his head with his whole arm.
I leaned over and kissed one furry black ear before I got out of bed.
“I’ll make breakfast, if you want to come up, but I need to get to work.
And just so you know, I have Chef Yamuna coming in a couple hours to prepare for a lunch I’m having with the gallery owner featuring my work.
She’s also bringing movers who’ll be boxing up and transporting some of my paintings. ”
He turned over onto his back and peered at me curiously. “Someone’s taking them?”
“To a gallery that sells my work, yes.”
“Oh.”
I couldn’t quite read his expression, but then I had a realization that should’ve occurred to me way before now. “And I’m just now realizing that you’re in two of those paintings,” I said a little sheepishly. “Is that alright? I can keep them back. Destroy them even, if you want me to.”
“No, don’t do that. I just didn’t realize that someone might want to buy art that had me in it.”
I looked him over, my big hairy beast lounging in his bed, and grinned. “Believe me, Saph, there are thousands of people who would happily have your portrait on their wall for eternity. Not just me.”
“Oh.”
I had a feeling he was blushing under all that midnight fur, but I got serious again. “But are you sure it’s alright? I can hang them up here instead.”
“I don’t mind.”
“I’ll get your permission before I do any more of you,” I promised.
I couldn’t resist staring at him again, loving his relaxed and sexy pose with his cock just peeking out of its sheath. I licked my lips.
“No,” he said with a chuckle. “You can’t paint my cock.”
“Right. No painting penises. I’d keep it if I ever did, though.” I smirked at him. “Hang it over the bed so I could stare at it while you fuck me from behind.”
His cock slithered out further, and a growl shook the air around me.
“You won’t get anything done before your people arrive,” he rumbled, “if you keep talking like that.”
I smirked, but carried on with leaving the room. I really did have things to do.
Though this would be my fifth show at Vera Dubois’ gallery, I still felt the stress and pressure to perform well and keep her inviting me back.
One of the few art galleries in the West Village of Manhattan, Vera blended with the queer and eccentric businesses and theaters around her by showcasing art that celebrated sex, horror, and humanity—at least that was what her brochures said.
My work fell into all three categories for the most part, and the addition of Saph in some of them only added to my aesthetic.
In one of the paintings, he was stepping out of the shadows, looking dangerous, and creeping toward a pale man in a shear wrap that left nothing to the imagination.
It wasn’t exactly a self-portrait of either of us, but it was damn close and was the piece I’d done after initially thinking I wouldn’t mind Saph chasing me through the cemetery.
I hoped Vera appreciated and was titillated by the question of whether the man was about to be ravished or devoured. Or both.
I smiled to myself as I got into the upstairs shower because I was pretty sure I’d tell her exactly what happened to the man when the beast pounced. Let her think it was my wild imagination and not a normal night with my boyfriend.